Jake Paul's sports promotion company, Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), is merging with the Professional Fighters League (PFL), aiming to disrupt the Ultimate Fighting Championship's (UFC) stronghold on the mixed martial arts industry.
The event featuring Ronda Rousey facing Gina Carano on Netflix in May showcased Jake Paul in a fighting stance. Here's a quick look at the key details: MVP, founded by Jake Paul, will combine with PFL to directly compete with and counter the UFC.
The mixed martial arts sector is experiencing rapid growth, with its combative and easily shareable nature aligning with the current conservative mainstream trend, partly due to UFC President Dana White's close ties with President Trump's inner circle. Last month, Trump hosted a cage fighting event on the White House South Lawn. Elon Musk, podcast host Joe Rogan, and several top Hollywood stars are also frequent attendees at these fights.
The commercial value of combat sports is rising. Last year, Paramount secured exclusive media rights to all UFC events under TKO Group for the next seven years, paying a hefty $7.7 billion. MVP was co-founded in 2021 by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian, a former UFC financial executive. In 2024, Netflix streamed the boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, marking the platform's first live sports event and attracting tens of millions of new viewers for MVP.
The combined entity will operate under the MVP brand, remain a privately held company, and have a roster of nearly 400 signed athletes. MVP has historically focused on boxing events, while PFL specializes in mixed martial arts. Post-merger, the company will manage both boxing and MMA competitions. John Martin, PFL's president, will lead the merged company. With over a decade of focus on top-tier combat sports, the former Time Warner executive revealed he had twice tried to persuade his management to acquire the UFC but failed.
Jake Paul was struck by British boxer Anthony Joshua last year in Miami, where Joshua defeated the MVP co-founder. "This is very personal to me," said Martin, who has combat training experience and joined PFL last year. "Few sports offer the growth potential of combat sports. I've always wanted to create a rival that can go head-to-head with the UFC."
Jake Paul, a social media influencer with tens of millions of followers across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, turned professional in boxing in 2020. The new MVP plans to leverage Paul's massive fan base and the natural tendency of combat events to generate viral short video moments to deeply engage younger audiences. "Fans love drama, pre-fight hype, online buzz, rivalries, and complete storylines, and combat sports are perfectly suited for these elements," Paul said in an interview. Paul and Bidarian will serve on the board of the merged company.
MVP's partnership with Netflix is non-exclusive, with events also broadcast on ESPN, Sky Sports, and DAZN. In May, Netflix will again broadcast an MVP event featuring the MMA showdown between Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano. PFL's broadcast and streaming partnerships span over 170 countries. Its current U.S. broadcast deal with ESPN expires at the end of this year. The merged entity is negotiating new U.S. broadcast partnerships, with Bidarian aiming to finalize one in the coming months.
Unlike most professional sports like football and basketball, which are league-controlled, boxing and MMA operate on a vertical model where companies like MVP and the UFC fully control their signed fighters and event operations. Bidarian noted that remaining private allows the company greater flexibility, including offering high salaries and attractive packages to recruit fighters. The company will encourage its athletes to cross-train and compete in both boxing and MMA. Paul himself has expressed interest in scheduling an MMA fight.
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